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'Halifax' is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England, with a population of 82,056.^[1] It is well known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward.

Contents

History

Geography

Demographics

Law enforcement

Education

Educational development

Culture

Commercial enterprise

Transportation

Trains

Notable attractions

Town Hall

Museums

Other attractions

Sports

Famous Haligonians

See also

Notes

External links

Arts

Museums

History

The name ''Halifax'' is said to be a corruption of the Old English words for ''Holy'' and ''Face'', part of the local legend that the head of John the Baptist was buried here after his execution. The legend is almost certainly medieval rather than ancient, though the town's coat of arms still carries an image of the saint. (The oldest written mentions of the town have the spelling ''Haliflax'', apparently meaning "holy flax (field)", the second ''l'' having been subsequently lost by dissimilation.^[2]) Halifax Parish Church, parts of which go back to the 12th century, has always been dedicated to St John the Baptist. The church's first organist, in 1765, was William Herschel, who went on to discover the planet Uranus.

Halifax was incorporated as a county borough in 1848 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. Since 1974, Halifax has been the centre of the Metropolitan District of Calderdale, part of the metropolitan county of West Yorkshire. Halifax has given its name to a bank, Halifax plc which started as a building society in the town. Halifax is a twin town with Aachen in Germany. The A58 has a stretch called Aachen Way, with a plaque on the town-bound side of the road.

Geography

Topographically, Halifax is located in the south-eastern corner of the moorland region called the South Pennines. Halifax is situated about 4 miles from the M62 motorway close to Huddersfield and Bradford. The Tees-Exe line passes through the A641 road, which links nearby Brighouse with Bradford and Huddersfield, The town lies 65 miles from Liverpool and Kingston upon Hull, and about 200 miles from the cities of London, Edinburgh, Belfast, Dublin and Cardiff as the crow flies. The major waterway is the River Calder.

Demographics

As of 2004¹, Calderdale had a population of 192,405, of which 82,500 live in Halifax. The main ethnic group in Halifax is Caucasian (87%), followed by Pakistani (10%). Over 90% of people aged 16-74 were employed, mostly full-time. 64% of residents had qualifications.
In the 2001 census¹, 5% stated they were Muslim, 16.3% of no religion, and 63.8 % of Christian background. 12.8% did not disclose their religion. The population density of Halifax is 530/km².

Law enforcement

Halifax was also notorious for the 'Halifax Gibbet', an early form of the guillotine used to execute criminals by decapitation, it was last used in 1650 . A replica of the gibbet has been erected in Gibbet Street. Punishment in Halifax was notoriously harsh, as remembered in the ''Beggar's Litany'', a prayer whose text was ''"From Hull, Hell, and Halifax, Good Lord deliver us!"''.

Education

Halifax is home to the only two selective schools in West Yorkshire, which are the coeducational 'North Halifax Grammar School' in Illingworth^[3]
and 'Crossley Heath Grammar School', near Skircoat Green^[4]. Both schools achieve excellent GCSE and A-level results with both schools achieving a large proportion of A
★ to C grades at GCSE level. In 2005, the Crossley Heath School was the highest ranking co-educational school in the North of England.
The Crossley Heath School was formed when Heath Grammar School, an all boys school given its charter by Elizabeth I, and The Crossley and Porter School, a mixed school founded by the Crossley Family which started as an orphanage, were combined in 1985. There are other schools in the area, including the Holy Trinity Church of England Senior School and St Catherine's Catholic High School, both of which are located in Holmfield. In January 2006 Holy Trinity was designated a Specialist College for Business and Enterprise, whilst the neighbouring Catholic school, St Catherine's, was also successful in its bid for Specialist Technology Status.
Calderdale College is the local further education college on Francis Street just off King Cross Road, to the west of the town.

Educational development

In December 2006 it was announced that Calderdale College, in partnership with the University of Leeds, would open a new higher education institution in January 2007 called 'University Centre Calderdale'.

Culture

Halifax is home to a vibrant South Asian community mainly of Pakistani Muslims from the Kashmir region. The majority of the community lives in the west central Halifax region of the town, which was previously home to immigrant Irish communities who have since moved to the outer suburbs.
North Halifax is noted for its local support of the far-right British National Party; the suburb of Mixenden became the first area in West Yorkshire to popularly vote in a BNP councillor, with Illingworth soon to follow. It is also home to the prestigious North Halifax Grammar School, one of the last of two remaining selective schools in Calderdale District. North Halifax, in contrast to west central Halifax's ethnic diversity, consists mostly of white Protestant residents.
Halifax has benefited from SRB and URBAN money through Action Halifax who have a vision for "a prosperous, vibrant and safe centre where all sections of the community can access opportunities to enhance their quality of life."
Dean Clough, a refurbished worsted spinning mill, is the home of Barrie Rutter's Northern Broadsides Theatre Company and the IOU theatre company as well as providing space for eight art galleries.
Halifax town centre has a busy night life with lots of clubs and bars. To help with those who become vulnerable whilst enjoying and using Halifax's night life, Street Angels was launched in November 2005. Street Angels patrol the town centre on Fridays and Saturdays between 9pm and 3am. In the first year police report violent crime has fallen by 42%. Street Angels work in partnership with St John Ambulance, Nightlife Marshals, Police Community Support Officers, Police and doorstaff as well as the Halifax Ambassadors who patrol in the daytime.
Halifax is also home to the oldest continually running amateur choral society in the country and possibly the world. Halifax Choral Society was founded in 1817 and has an unbroken record of performances. The Choral Society has a strong rivalry with the choral society of neighbouring town, Huddersfield.
The Halifax & District Organists' Association, is one of the oldest organists' fellowships in the country.
As well as conventional cultural attractions, the Calderdale area has also become a centre for folk and traditional music. The Traditions Festival, held at the Piece Hall in Halifax town centre, is a celebration of traditional music and dance from around the world, whilst the Rushbearing, held in Sowerby Bridge and the surrounding villages, is a traditional festival which was restarted to celebrate the Queen's Silver Jubilee and attracts Morris dancers from all around the country.

Commercial enterprise

As well as the unforgettable significance of the Halifax Building Society (which merged with the Bank of Scotland in 2001), the town has associations with confectionery. John Mackintosh and his wife, Violet, opened a toffee shop in King Cross Lane in 1890. Violet formulated the toffee's recipe. He became known as ''The Toffee King''. A factory was opened on Queens Road in 1898. A new factory at Albion Mill, at the current site near the train station, opened in 1909. John died in 1920, and his son Harold not only contimued the business but took it to the present size and range of confectionery it has today. Their famous brands, including ''Rolo'', ''Toffee Crisp'' and ''Quality Street'' of chocolate and confectionery are not just popular in the UK, but around the world including the USA. It was merged with Rowntree in 1969, which was then bought by Nestlé in 1988.

Transportation

The transportation in Halifax is managed by Metro, the West Yorkshire PTE.
===Buses===
First Calderdale & Huddersfield operate most of the services in Halifax, while Arriva operate services that link Halifax with Dewsbury and Wakefield. Halifax is well connected to the nearby towns of Bradford, Leeds and Huddersfield, with the First services 576, 508 and 503, serving these destinations every 10-20 minutes during Monday to Saturday daytimes. First also run services into other counties, including 528 to Rochdale via Ripponden and Littleborough, 590 to Rochdale via Todmorden and Littleborough and 592 to Burnley via Todmorden.
Other bus operators in the town include T.J. Walsh (Also known as The Halifax Bus Company) and Halifax Joint Committee which use the livery of the old Halifax Corporation buses, used on the town's buses until 1974. Unlike many other bus stations, Halifax is noted for having much character, with many listed buildings being incorporated on the site. This does mean though that facilities are slightly lacking compared to more modern bus stations in West Yorkshire.

Trains

Halifax is a railway station on the Caldervale Line. 200 yards from the station south, the line diverges for a link to Huddersfield. Trains operate to Manchester every 30 minutes, Bradford and Leeds every 15 minutes, Blackpool hourly and Brighouse and Huddersfield hourly Monday to Saturday daytimes. All services are operated by Northern Rail and are branded as MetroTrain
The Halifax High Level Railway was a branch line leading from Holmfield, near Ovenden, which ran across the Wheatley Valley on a ten arch viaduct past Samuel Webster's Brewery and carried on to St Paul's railway station at Queens Road.
This branch line was very useful in its day, particularly for the transportation of coal, but gradually fell into disuse.
The last goods train ran in 1960 and the line was then dismantled.

Notable attractions

===Halifax Piece Hall===
The cloth hall was where the trading of the woollen cloth pieces was done. Opened on January 1, 1779, it was only open for business for two hours on a Saturday morning, and contained 315 merchants' trading rooms. After the mechanisation of the cloth industry, the Piece Hall was and continues to be used as a public market. The former Calderdale Industrial Museum (now closed) was housed within the Piece Hall. In winter 2006-07 the Piece Hall hosted an outdoor temporary ice rink.

Town Hall

This was built by Charles Barry, who also built the Houses of Parliament, in 1863 . Wainhouse tower is an elaborate factory chimney or folly built for a dye house that was never used, and dates from 1871. It was designed by Isaac Booth, and is now capped with an observation platform reached by an interior spiral staircase.

Museums

The Yorkshire Regiment's 3rd Battalion (Duke of Wellington's) formerly The Duke of Wellington's Regiment (West Riding) Halifax Area Headquarters is based at Wellesley Park, on the junction of Gibbet Street and Spring Hall Road, in the former Wellesley Barracks museum and education centre building. The Regimental Museum has been re-located within the Bankfield House Textile Museum on Haley Hill. The former Barracks was converted into an educational school in 2005 .
Former Regimental Colours of the 'Dukes' are laid up in the Halifax Parish Church. The 1981 set of colours, were taken out of service, in 2002. They were marched through the town from the Town Hall to the Parish church accompanied by two escorts of 40 troops, the Regimental Drums and the Heavy Cavalry and Cambrai Band on Sunday the 31 March 2007 from the Town Hall to the Parish Church. The troops were then inspected by The Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Dr Ingrid Roscoe BA, PhD, FSA and the Mayor of Halifax Cllr Colin Stout making a total of eight stands of colours within the Regimental Chapel. The Regiment was presented with the 'Freedom of Halifax' on 18 June 1945.
===Eureka! children's museum===
This notable attraction was inspired and opened by Prince Charles in the summer of 1992, and which is located in part of the railway station.
===Shibden Hall===
Once home to the diarist Anne Lister, Shibden Hall is located just outside Halifax in the neighbouring Shibden Valley.

Other attractions

The Square Chapel Centre for the Arts offers music, dance, plays, comedy as well as community events such as tea dances.

Sports

The town has relatively successful sport teams. Its rugby league team, Halifax RLFC (formerly known as the "Blue Sox"), plays in National League One, and the football team, Halifax Town A.F.C., resides in the Nationwide Conference, and are the only team to be relegated to the Conference twice. Both teams play at The Shay, the biggest ground for a non-league football club in England. In the 1960s Halifax Town played Millwall in a Fourth Division match that had the lowest attendance ever recorded for a professional match in England.
The Crossley Heath Grammar School normally excel in nationwide school Rugby union competitions.^[5]

Famous Haligonians

★ Ann Lister, diarist and former owner of Shibden Hall

★ Barrie Ingham, actor

★ Big Daddy, wrestler

★ Brian Turner, chef, restrauteur and TV personality

★ Eric Portman, actor

★ Frank Worthington, footballer

★ George Dyson, composer

★ Herbert Akroyd Stuart, inventor of the Hot Bulb Engine (ancestor to the diesel engine)

★ James Pickles, judge

★ Jesse Ramsden, inventor of the Ramsden theodolite

★ John Kettley, weatherman

★ John Noakes, TV presenter

★ John Reginald Halliday Christie, the murderer from 10 Rillington Place

★ John Wolfenden, Baron Wolfenden, chairman of the Wolfenden committee

★ Nick Lawrence, radio presenter

★ Paddy Kenny, footballer

★ Percy Shaw, inventor of 'Cat's Eyes' used on public roads worldwide.

★ Phyllis Bentley, novelist

★ Séan Walsh, local poet, writer & artist

★ Stuart Fielden, rugby league footballer

★ Thomas Nettleton, local physician who carried out some of the earliest systematic programmes of smallpox vaccination

★ Harold Vincent Mackintosh 1st Viscount Mackintosh of Halifax, developed his father's firm into a significant chocolate manufacturer

★ Wilfred Pickles, actor/comedian/broadcaster

★ John Mackintosh, created Mackintosh's Toffee, which became Rowntree Mackintosh

See also

★ Halifax College, a college of the University of York

★ Halifax railway station

★ Handley Page Halifax

★ HMS Halifax

★ Walterclough Hall

★ North Halifax Grammar School

Notes

1. 2004 Calderdale Ward Digest - Census 2001 (August 2004)
2. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-Names, Eilert Ekwall, , , , ,
3. League Tables: The North Halifax Grammar School
4. League Tables: The Crossley Heath School
5. Crossley Heath upset Warwick
6. Channing chips in

External links

★ Street Angels Halifax

★ Action Halifax Regeneration Partnership

★ Halifax Town Online

★ Halifax Today

★ Tourist Information

★ North Halifax Grammar School 2005 Ofsted Report (PDF Format)

Arts

★ Dean Clough - Arts, business, education and design complex

★ Square Chapel Centre for the Arts

★ Northern Broadsides Theatre Company

Museums

★ Museums in Calderdale - Bankfield Museum

★ Eureka! The Museum for Children